distrowatch question

[smeg_it]

Did distrowatch change hands? It seems less useful than it once was. I've been using it since at ~2008-10 (somewhere in there). Please don't get me wrong, it's still very useful and I'm very glad it's there, but I'm surprised by distros I'm not finding there. I never used to have that issue. Other more avid users may have found more, or not. Some of the distros, I think were, at one point on there and were removed. Sometimes I'm trying to look at distros that are less useful to use, but are or were innovative for some reason or another. I don't care that they aren't as useable now, but distowatch used to show me almost every distro whether or not it was currently used or not (or is that my imagination). Seems like distrowatch used to be a complete searchable DB of all non-windows or mac-os Operating Systems.

Examples:
*Redox (not ready and probably will never be, yet extremely innovative and shouldn't be forgotten when moving forward: I think this was on there)
*flatcar (not really sure if it's ready or not but been on the waiting list since 2018)
*(forgetting this one but started with an H) it's an attempt to revise an old OS (90s?), it used to be there, maybe still or removed
I know there are more, as this isn't the first time I've come up blank in the last few years but offhand they aren't coming up.

 

[etcetera]

I use distro they rank as #66 in their list.

 

[smeg_it]

I use distro they rank as #66 in their list.

While I appreciate replies, I don't really know how this relates to what I was asking about.

Well, let me clarify. I made not have been clear enough. I'm not talking about the top 100 list. I'm talking about distos that aren't even found in distrowatch by search. I used to find pretty much any and everything, if I'm not mistaken but they are leaving off allot. It seems they now (or always?) had minimum standards for it to be in their DB, so it's not the one stop shop for learning about distro's it used to be.

 

[JasKinasis]

I’ve never really taken any notice of distrowatch. Their rankings of Linux distributions have always been based on the number of searches/page hits for each distribution ON distrowatch.

Their most popular distribution is just the one that’s most popular on their site. It doesn’t necessarily relate to the number of people actually using that distribution. It just tells you more about which distributions people have been looking at on distrowatch.

If you’re searching for information about a new distribution and it isn’t listed anywhere on distrowatch - I guess it just means that it hasn’t been added/submitted there yet. Or they don’t deem it worthy of inclusion.

Your best bet would be to ask somebody at distrowatch.

 

[atanere]

I'm surprised by distros I'm not finding there

*Redox

*flatcar

*(forgetting this one

DistroWatch still offers some information on those distros you've remembered. You can search for distros by typing their name into a box on the upper left corner of their website.

Searching "Redox" finds it mentioned on this page (Other Operating Systems and Related Hypervisors)... with a link to the current Redox OS website.

Searching "Flatcar" shows it has been on the DistroWatch waiting list since 2018. It also provides a link to the current Flatcar Linux website.

For more finely detailed searches by criteria (not by name), try the DistroWatch Search Page. I find this search feature to be very useful.

 

[etcetera]

I don't think it's very accurate, take it with a grain of salt.

 

[atanere]

DistroWatch never claims accuracy. It's just one site publishing what their web traffic (hit counters) indicate to them. They do claim to try to stop cheating and abuse on the hit counters. It's a measuring stick, but it's not calibrated to anything else.

Other options can be found:

https://alternativeto.net/software/distrowatch/

https://developnsolve.com/exploring-alternatives-to-distrowatch-for-linux-news-and-stats

 

[GatorsFan]

The rankings on Distrowatch are only ranked by what people click on in the right column and not actual installations - so if I have 30 people go to the site and click on #100 you will see it rise in the ranking and do that everyday for the next several days it may rise several positions

 

[KGIII]

These days, you pretty much need to pay for an ad to get listed there without waiting a year.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

distrowatch.com

 

[smeg_it]

Thanks for all the replies. Again, not asking about the rankings. I am just not finding the distopages like I used to for

DistroWatch still offers some information on those distros you've remembered. You can search for distros by typing their name into a box on the upper left corner of their website.

Searching "Redox" finds it mentioned on this page (Other Operating Systems and Related Hypervisors)... with a link to the current Redox OS website.

Searching "Flatcar" shows it has been on the DistroWatch waiting list since 2018. It also provides a link to the current Flatcar Linux website.

For more finely detailed searches by criteria (not by name), try the DistroWatch Search Page. I find this search feature to be very useful.

Yeah, just thought they used to include a normal distro page for most any distro. I could be wrong, but it used to be a great place to start, even for a more historic distro (I thought, correct me if I'm wrong) but it had links to reviews, even if old. I dunno, yes you can sometimes find something, but they seem to have removed some distro pages on there site. Again, let me know if that's incorrect.

 

[smeg_it]

These days, you pretty much need to pay for an ad to get listed there without waiting a year.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

distrowatch.com

Do you know if they have removed pages? It seem like they have

 

[smeg_it]

DistroWatch never claims accuracy. It's just one site publishing what their web traffic (hit counters) indicate to them. They do claim to try to stop cheating and abuse on the hit counters. It's a measuring stick, but it's not calibrated to anything else.

Other options can be found:

https://alternativeto.net/software/distrowatch/

https://developnsolve.com/exploring-alternatives-to-distrowatch-for-linux-news-and-stats

I'll definitely try these!

 

[KGIII]

Do you know if they have removed pages? It seem like they have

I do not know if they have. I suspect that they remove distros they believe are no longer valid, but I know nothing about this.

 

[ron.alan]

From their FAQs:

A new version of a distribution was released, but it wasn't announced on DistroWatch. Why?

Why is distro X still on the waiting list and not in your database?

Why is distro X not in your database?

 

[atanere]

(I thought, correct me if I'm wrong) but it had links to reviews, even if old. I dunno

Many of their OS reviews happen in the DistroWatch Weekly, and those are archived (here) going back to June 2003. Again, in the upper left corner area of their main website, in the dark green section (below the yellow header section), on the far left, there is a dropdown showing "News/Opinions/Reviews" that will go to the DW Weekly and other resources you may want.

Do you know if they have removed pages? It seem like they have

Since when? They've been online since 2001. You can compare your memory to the old archives stored on The Wayback Machine, but they will not likely have much, if any, content deeper than the first page for you to compare. Still it's a nice place to visit and reminisce. At least, you can watch how the look of the site evolved over time, and you can see the "Top 100" list as it changed over the years.

I would think that any website does housekeeping and maintenance to remove stuff that is no longer relevant... so I don't doubt that DistroWatch has also. But they do maintain a large list of discontinued distros in their database (which you can easily identify with their Search features), so I'm not sure that any of those have ever been purged.